Legends Grow From Super Bowls Past

This one will be bigger. This one will be better. This one will be more entertaining. This one will be . . . well, just fill in the blank.

In 20 years of perfecting the Big Event, the National Football League has developed a universal scrapbook of Super Bowl lore that assures every fan of being on the same page.

And regardless of how boring, how poorly played or how uneventful Sunday`s title match between the Bears and the New England Patriots might prove to be, one thing is certain: It will go down in history.

Names and dates and faces and touchdowns and botched field goals and tipped passes . . . they are beginning to nestle comfortably in our minds. Same goes for that annual onslaught of anticipation, the teasing two-week prologue that might be the most intriguing and exhaustive part of the ritual. It`s all the outgrowth of the legal and verbal battles between the established NFL and the upstart American Football League in the early and mid- 1960s. The AFL and NFL agreed to merge in 1966, two months after the Oakland Raiders` Al Davis became AFL commissioner, and the first Super Bowl was played in 1967.

``We had them,`` said Davis of his league`s unyielding resolve to gain recognition from the NFL. ``There was no alternative to peace for them. If you study foreign affairs, you find there`s a rule that the guerrilla wins if he doesn`t lose. If he exists, he`s winning.``

So it was that Al Hirt played his trumpet and 4,000 pigeons were released from the floor of the stadium in Los Angeles Coliseum and the Green Bay Packers faced the Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 15, 1967. There was a crowd of 61,946 in the 90,000-seat stadium.

The rest, as they say, is history.

I

Packers 35, Chiefs 10--The most fascinating stories recalled from Super Bowl I had to do with Packer end Max McGee`s off-the-field antics.

McGee broke the training camp rules of stern coach Vince Lombardi the night before the contest with Kansas City in 1967.

``If Lombardi taught me one thing, it was how to get along on a minimal amount of sleep,`` said McGee, whose Packers prevailed 35-10.

On the night of Jan. 14, McGee went long on a pass pattern. Long into the night and early morning, that is.

``I had no earthly idea I`d play in that game,`` McGee said of his rationale for carousing the entire night. ``Neither Paul (roommate Paul Hornung) nor I expected to get off the bench. He hadn`t played in about six weeks and I knew I wouldn`t play unless Boyd Dowler got hurt. Vince put in a huge penalty that week, something like $5,000, and we all knew he meant it, so I didn`t think anybody snuck out.

``The night before the game Dave Hanner checked the room at curfew and I asked Hawg if he was going to double-check later. `Yep,` he said. But then, as he started out of my room, he changed his mind for some reason. `Nope,` Hawg said, `I won`t check your room later.` That was enough for me. I practically ran over him getting out of the room. I met some blond the night before and I was on my way to pay my respects. I didn`t feel I was letting the team down any, because I knew there wasn`t a chance I`d play.

``I waddled in about 7:30 in the morning and I could barely stand up for the kickoff. On the bench Paul kept needling me. `What would you do if you had to play?` And I said: `No way. There`s no way I could make it.`

``We sat together, discussing his wedding that was coming up, and suddenly I heard Lombardi yell, `McGee!` I figured it was about to cost me $5,000. Then he shouted, `Get in the game.` I almost fainted.

``Boyd was hurt and I played the rest of the game and caught seven passes and scored two touchdowns, and after the game dear old Vince came up to me and said, `Nice game.`

``Most any end could`ve done the same thing,`` I said.

`` `You`re right,` he said.

``I looked at him and said, `Well, you sure took the edge off that.` ``

On the field, Bart Starr completed 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns. McGee caught seven of the passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Lombardi accepted the championship trophy from NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle. The trophy was later named the Lombardi Trophy.

II

Packers 33, Raiders 14--The legend of Vince Lombardi was further enhanced on Jan. 14, 1968, when his team routed Oakland in front of a crowd of 75,546 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

With the rumor circulating the country that Lombardi would resign as coach and general manager of the Packers after this Super Bowl, Green Bay marched along, with Bart Starr passing for 202 yards and a touchdown and Don Chandler kicking four field goals.

``About Thursday, Coach Lombardi came to our meeting dressed in a business suit, which was not at all characteristic of him,`` said Starr. ``He was going to a reception and told us how much he had enjoyed coaching us and how proud he was of us. We all had lumps in our throats. He was proud of us, but we were just as proud of him.``